Our Rink Closing - Help Needed

[Elwood 0]

Hi Everyone, I don't post much unless I can contribute to a good thread or post a gear review. That being said -

Our hockey director just informed the parents, players, skaters and rink staff that they will soon be shutting the doors unless they can quickly raise enough cash to keep it operating until they can find a site to build a new rink. :( Needless to say building a new rink can and will take some time to complete. This not only affects the hockey leagues, but figure skaters, speed skaters, local college and high school teams and the community as a whole.

The following article describe our plight:

Ventura County Star Article - Clubs move to save Ice Skating Center

The interim management team is asking for donations of any kind, to include rink advertising. The least I can contribute is to promote awareness of this issue, so thanks to the the stellar community here at MSH for taking the time to read this. Any help you all can provide is very much appreciated.

We have a 2PM general assembly meeting tomorrow which I will attend.

From the above article:

To donate money to either organization, contact Jim Meaney at jim@riptideicehockey.com or 377-5020, or Janene Wasserman at bathwasser@aol.com, or 797-4812.

Personally, I had hoped that a so cal team winning the Stanley Cup would help revive the passion for hockey in the L.A. area (similar to the fervor generated when Gretzky became a King) - however you can thank Paris Hilton for royally screwing that up.

-Elwood

[jeffw 1]

Sucks man, the local TV station aired a story yesterday that our rink will also be shutting it's doors. The local youth hockey organization is trying to put a plan together to keep things going but it doesn't look good.

[mmmjags 0]

i play down in ventura, too. i don't what i'm going to do when that place closes.

[Elwood 0]

I wanted to post an update on this.

Believe it or not, the figure and hockey associations were able to raise $98,615, including a generous donation by the Anaheim Ducks. Even tho I'm a Kings fan, that's way cool of them to do.

Updated article

So far, its looking better than it did a week ago. Still more is needed to hit the fund raising sweet spot.

-Elwood

[#96 0]

I wanted to post an update on this.

Believe it or not, the figure and hockey associations were able to raise $98,615, including a generous donation by the Anaheim Ducks. Even tho I'm a Kings fan, that's way cool of them to do.

Updated article

So far, its looking better than it did a week ago. Still more is needed to hit the fund raising sweet spot.

-Elwood

That's good news. I'm glad to see the Ducks organization reaching out to the community and helping continue the growth of hockey in your area.

Dumb question, why would a rink that has leagues, figure skating, speed skating, high school teams, etc., have a hard time with finances and face closing?

[jeffw 1]

That's good news! We had this break loose this week.....

HAGERSTOWN, MD - Pee Wee hockey rivals beware: The Hagerstown Bulldogs are back on the ice.

Less than two weeks after the city announced the Hagerstown Ice & Sports Complex would remain closed until a new group could be found to manage it, the Hagerstown Youth Hockey Association has volunteered - and been approved - to do the job.

"We thought, if someone's got to do it, we'll do it," said Jeff Barbour, HYHA's president.

Under an agreement reached Tuesday with the City Council, HYHA will operate the facility on a limited basis for the next six weeks, staffing it with volunteers for hockey practices, games and figure skating meets, city spokeswoman Karen Giffin said.

Beginning Oct. 1, HYHA plans to reopen the rink for public skating and drop-in hockey. The rink has been closed since it was shut down for maintenance in late June.

By signing on with HYHA, city officials are gambling that the youth hockey organization will have more success running the city-owned facility than the previous manager, the Washington County Sports Foundation. The city terminated its contract with the foundation earlier this summer after the group had difficulty generating revenue from the rink and finding volunteers for its board of directors.

The agreement with HYHA is only for this hockey season, which lasts through the spring, and the city is still considering other uses for the facility, Giffin said.

But Barbour is confident HYHA will be able to turn things around.

"It certainly is viable in the community if it's properly run," he said. "What it takes is some common-sense management. We can give the city what they're looking for, and I think once they see it's viable, they'll be content to keep it as an ice rink."

The group will create a board to oversee the facility. The board will include representatives from each of the groups that uses the rink, something Barbour said was lacking under the sports foundation's leadership.

To save costs, HYHA will staff the facility entirely with volunteers during the first six-week phase, then continue to utilize some volunteers when the rink is in full operation.

Beginning in October, the group plans to hire a manager for the rink, and has seen interest from several of its board members.

"We've got a lot of people in our organization who've grown up around ice rinks and worked in ice rinks," he said.

Meanwhile, the mini-games that determine the divisions for youth hockey travel teams are three and a half weeks away, and HYHA is scrambling to schedule practices. The group lost three learn-to-play sessions, the essential training sessions for 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds, because of the closure.

It also struggled to keep hockey players committed to the team while their facility's future was up in the air.

"When our rink closed and the media reported it, some of our competing neighbor clubs were circling like sharks that smell blood in the water, actively recruiting our players."

But at a celebratory rink event last night, local hockey enthusiasts didn't seem daunted.

"It's awesome. We're psyched to be here and finally getting some practice in," said Evan Greenawalt, 16, of Waynesboro, Pa., as he laced up his skates. Greenawalt's mother, Brenda Hann, said Evan was eager to start playing hockey again.

"He's been asking over and over, 'When's it going to open?' We were worried about it, but we're thrilled now," Hann said.

HYHA planned the event to celebrate the new arrangement and send a message that Hagerstown hockey was still going strong, Barbour said.

"We want to show our kids and our parents that we're back and we're for real and we're ready to go," he said.

[DarkStar50 679]

My advice to the people volunteering their time at the rink: be very careful with liability issues. As much good as everyone is trying to do, it only takes one person with an illogical complaint/problem/issue that he wants to lay on someone working at a rink. Just because you volunteer does not make you exempt from liability.

I still wish both rinks the best of luck to keep them going. Kids need hockey rinks, not Playstations.

[Elwood 0]

Dumb question, why would a rink that has leagues, figure skating, speed skating, high school teams, etc., have a hard time with finances and face closing?

The articles spell it out a bit. Long story short its in a "degraded" area of town that is slated to be re-developed within 2-3 years.

The land owner/developer knows that the parcel the rink sits on won't be built on for 2-3 years, (just the environmental impact study will take a year at least) so its better to have it in use, serving the community instead of being vacant (at least they get something from it). The land owner has been very cool, forgiving overdue rent and reducing it to make it easier on the pocketbook, but they can only give so much. Even the current rink management has been open and honest about all of this, and was trying to help. They simply want out of the rink business. So, the non-profit clubs are trying to raise cash to keep it going.

There have always been plans to find a location to build a new rink, but that can take years as well. So, as long as the cash can be raised, we get a local rink for a couple more years until the new one is in place.

-Elwood

[Elwood 0]

Here's a (hopefully) final update on our rink:

Updated article

The two non-profits officially bought out and took over operations from the current rink owners.

They were able to raise over 120 grand in two weeks which is pretty amazing. So, looks like we'll have some ice until they can move to or build a new place. :D

-Elwood

[jeffw 1]

That's great news. We started practices this week, the adult league starts in a few weeks and even the bloody figure skaters are getting some ice.

[daca 0]

I still wish both rinks the best of luck to keep them going. Kids need hockey rinks, not Playstations.

well put.

hope everything works out for you guys. seems like it's on the up.

[yipperzz 28]

glad to hear...we'll see how long it lasts. with the cost of property, i can see why rinks are shutting down here in so cal. the old skate zone in huntington beach shut down too. they could make a lot more money leasing out spaces to businesses than running the rink. it's sad but true.

[jeffw 1]

So as part of this whole volunteer rink management thing I've been given keys to the rink, the code to the alarm system and been trained to run the Zamboni.

It's like giving Dracula the keys to the blood bank. B)

[Elwood 0]

So as part of this whole volunteer rink management thing I've been ... trained to run the Zamboni.

Holy crap! I'll keep out of the hallways then :lol:

Cool of you to help out - I've been helping coach the kids there since my son just started playing. I'm really glad we have some local ice...

-E

[UMWhockey 0]

That's good news. I'm glad to see the Ducks organization reaching out to the community and helping continue the growth of hockey in your area.

Dumb question, why would a rink that has leagues, figure skating, speed skating, high school teams, etc., have a hard time with finances and face closing?

Rinks don't make money on league dues and figure skating... the real money for just about every rink is in public sessions and learn to skate programs where you have a lot of people on the ice at once and can make $1000+ over a 2 hour span.